Results

Four distinct themes emerged with a noticeable difference in how people responded based on their tendency to be task driven or socio-emotional: reference, motivational driver, temporal perspective and life/work integration vs. separation.


Reference Context - Task Driven People Appear to Be More Self-referent Whereas People That Gravitate toward Being Socio-emotional Appear to Be More Other-referent

One hundred percent of the respondents in the task positive group made one or more references to why something was important to, or impacted, them personally and/or how they put things through a self-referent lens before making decisions. Following are examples of responses that included a reference to themselves in how they choose to make decisions or validate a decision they had made.

"Sadly I didn't want the argument of having to deal with her being mad at me so I didn't do that" 3-6.

"It is something I like to do for myself" 3-5.

"I enjoy the leadership role not so much for the authority or for being in charge or whatever, but knowing that people are looking to me for direction" 1-7.

"How I validate myself, is my ability to help an organization get the information it needs and solve challenges" 4-5.

The socio-emotional group was more other-referent. Ninety-two percent of the respondents' comments were about how they are impacted by others and how their decisions are based on the needs or wants of other people.

"I always hope that I never put myself first, that is like the biggest thing for me is to always put other people first always, always, always" 4-1.

"And so when I see someone buzz through that and they think, wow, wait a minute, I just did this. I didn't think I could do it. What else can I do? And that gets me excited" 4-4.

"Another thing I guess I'd say I'm passionate about is getting people to be inspired to find whatever niche it is that they have the skill set and have the passion for" 2-5.

"I just made up my mind going home that day that I was not going to live a life where I couldn't really make an impact… the other thing that I really like about my job over the first 26 years is really helping people to get on a career path and make a difference in their life that way" 2-2.

"So I'm hoping that I'm able to inspire people to find what they can do within their own capabilities" 1-3.

One person in the socio-emotional group commented on how their personal needs were important but in the same sentence referenced the needs of others:

"I like to work so I can live. I think a balance is very important. I do enjoy working for a company that values people, I compare (my last company) and (my current company). At (my last company) when I first started, people were indeed resources, and resources are precious and you - you're trying to protect them. And over time, we had become assets and assets can be faded out and sold. And here, I think people are still the most important resource. And that's a really key part of the culture" 3-4.

A few of the statements from the self-referent group included others but in the same thought the person also referenced themselves. For example:

"I hate to ask for things. Like, as a single mom, I hate to ask for someone to watch my kids. I hate to have to say, can you please - would you help me. I know how that feels. And I'm sure that other people that are in need sometimes may not feel good about asking for help, but if you are showing them how to take care of themselves, everyone wants to be able to take care of themselves and have some dignity" 1-6.

Self-referent and other-referent comments were fairly equally distributed across all other descriptors.


Primary Motivational Driver - Individuals That Are Inclined to Be More Task Oriented Appear to Be More Motivated by the Actual Goal or Milestone Whereas Socio-emotional Individuals Appear to Focus on the Purpose of the Activity and the Tasks or Goals Are Only a Means to a Bigger End

Although both task positive and socio-emotional responses included the word "goal" in their vernacular, it was used differently. One hundred percent of the respondents that were categorized as task positive made references to being goal oriented or motivated by the accomplishment of the goal whereas 62% of the socio-emotional group referenced goals.

Goals create targets or align thought processes and vary in terms of the amount of specificity and time frame. The task positive group appears to use goals more as the target or specific and measurable objective, whereas the socio-emotional group appears to use goals to align their activities toward a more holistic, far reaching purpose. Eighty-four percent of the socio-emotional group referenced or communicated a passion toward something that was very meaningful to them and 62% referenced a purpose that was driving their decisions. This compared to 18% that referenced a passion and 27% that made references to purpose in the task positive group. There was no significant variance across the descriptors.

The following statements are from individuals who tended to have a task orientation. They seem inclined to use goals to identify something that they felt they had the self-efficacy to accomplish, or that would give them a sense of completion and/or obligation.

"This is what I'm going to try to get done today" 3-5.

"There are times that I just, I can't wait to get to work. I can't wait to become engaged in a new problem. Where is the new problem?" 4-2.

"Well, I could – probably the most relevant one is the – is my goal to be home for dinner every night with my kids" 3-6.

"And so I think my goal – my job as his father is to help him – I don't want to feel guilty for the things he has, but I do want him to be grateful and by doing things for others it will actually demonstrate that higher purpose of like you know what, we do have – we have a responsibility as a matter of faith to do things for others" 3-6.

In contrast to this, the socio-emotional group appeared to use goals as steps in a process that were relevant to the extent that they provided guidance toward a greater purpose. This group was motivated by the bigger, overarching objective. The goals did not seem to be what drove their day-to-day activities or their decision making process. Responses that illustrate this are:

"I think you should have goals and think about the future. But I am fine doing a 180 any point in time you know, I am very comfortable doing that" 4-4.

"But I think my broader purpose is really helping find solutions to problems that actually work" 2-4.

"For me it was about the overall concepts, working for the greater good of something, and the lesson that I'm learning and the lessons that I can show my kid that, that was a greater benefit at the time, and I still very much would make the same decision. I think that that was more important than the financial aspect of the position" 2-5.

"Well, how can I then blend the personal goals that I have of making an impact on the world and like still have a job?" 2-4.


Temporal Perspective - There Appears to Be a Noticeable Difference in the Temporal Perspective of the Decisions Being Made. Decisions Appeared to Be Made Based on Either the Immediate Task (Transaction) Or Because the Decision Is Foundational to Transforming or Achieving a Greater, Longer Term Objective

This is best illustrated by the proverb of giving someone a fish vs. teaching someone to fish - if you give someone a fish they'll eat for a day; if you teach someone to fish they'll eat for a lifetime. Tuckey, Bakker and Dollard credit Bass, Jung, Sosik, and Pearce for articulating the behavioral styles of transactional vs. transformational leadership. Transactional leadership is tied to motivating others through a direct relationship between the task and the reward, whereas transformational leadership is recognized as influencing, inspiring, and stimulating others. It is possible to extend this framework to decision making. Individuals in group 1 that are more prone to task positive tendencies, also appear to exhibit a more immediate and transactional perspective. They appear to make decisions based on having an impact on a case by case basis such that they can connect the activity to a reward. This group appears to demonstrate a desire to accomplish a goal because of the reward associated with its completion and getting satisfaction out of the task at hand. They referenced setting goals that were in the near future, a one-off that could stand alone and once accomplished, allowed them to move on to another goal. Sixty-four percent of the task positive oriented group articulated a preference for accomplishing a task that had definite completion criteria. Examples of task positive statements are as follows:

"What is the big, nasty problem that we are going to tackle today? It takes a lot of hard work but the success is so rewarding" 4-2.

"Well I mean at a very superficial level, having some success in my career has allowed me to provide for people" 4-5.

"I'm working with individuals and I can again align what they love and their passion and their strengths to what we need in the business, it's like the perfect marriage and it's, you know, I just have this great sense of satisfaction when I can make - I can help facilitate that process and I can help make that happen. It's very rewarding to me. I found great satisfaction in that" 3-3.

In contrast, 15% of the socio-emotional group talked about tasks that once finished could be considered complete, whereas 92% of this group spoke of their accomplishments as laying a foundation for a job that was far reaching and may not be completed by them personally. Often, they saw their role as inspiring others to take the lead, making a decision to do something based on the long-term implications. Individuals that are more socio-emotional in nature seem to exhibit behaviors and attitudes that are more transformational. They appear to be motivated to teach others to fish, creating a larger group of people who are working toward the same purpose. They appear to be driven to create a foundation for future progress, aligning people and inspiring people to transform something that is much bigger than themselves. For example:

"And so I want to be able to give them guidance, help maybe focus them, give them my experience, but ultimately empower them to really stretch and push them to go to places where they didn't think they could go before" 2-1.

"I want to live for all of us to get better and have better lives" 1-4.

"I think what drives who I am is the ability to help others get to where they – where they want to be" 4-3.

Males indicated a preference for having the end goal clear twice as often as females, but there did not appear to be much variance across other descriptors.


Life Work Integration vs. Separation - People Associated with Socio-emotional Tendencies, Appear to See a Correlation between What They Do at Work and What They Do Outside of Work More than Task Oriented Individuals Who Appear to Prefer Separating Their Work from Their Personal Life

Fifty-five percent of the task positive group were very clear that life and work were separate and 77% of the socio-emotional group were equally clear that they sought work/life integration. Seventy-seven percent of the socio-emotional group also indicated that what they did was very personal and meaningful to them. This contrasted to only 36% of the task positive group that made reference to what they do at work as being personal.

Examples of statements from the task positive group are:

"Even if I'm here longer, I still try to just – whatever I need to do, I do it here and I try not to do it at home" 3-5.

"Work-life balance is about one of the most important things we can strive for. And you know you hear a lot about work-life integration. I don't really believe in that" 3-1.

"I am very focused, intently focused on trying to get home in time for dinner so we can have a family-style dinner" 3-6.

Socio-emotional driven individuals appear to be driven to achieve a purpose that transcends the activities throughout their day, at work and at home, as demonstrated by the following quotes:

"So I can take my knowledge of sustainability and have it be part of who I am, way beyond the walls of (my current company)" 4-3.

"This, to me, was like a self-fulfillment thing. I can go to work and do what I do every day and make my income this way" 2-5.

"I played soccer, and so it's an inner-city program where they combine soccer with poetry and creative writing, which I love. And so I think I was able to see the connection. It's not just at work, but how you combine your life with something that you're - that you're doing on a day-to-day basis" 4-3.

"I felt like I was able to connect and preserve the best of the world, and do it for a living. It just felt like such a natural connection" 4-3.